


foiled harvest

by peaktotheocean



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Auror Sirius Black, Dragons, Gen, M/M, Remus Lupin Never Went to Hogwarts, The Ministry of Magic is Terrible (Harry Potter), Werewolf Remus Lupin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-16 09:33:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29698533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peaktotheocean/pseuds/peaktotheocean
Summary: Phoenix feathers freely given, unicorn hairs easily snagged, but dragon heartstrings? Only acquired when the creature in question is deceased. Remus Lupin aims to put a stop to that.-----an AU where Remus Lupin never was admitted to Hogwarts, found himself as a champion for mistreated and misnamed "dark creatures," and still managed to knock Sirius Black off his axis.
Relationships: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 3
Kudos: 63





	foiled harvest

**Author's Note:**

  * For [everyfragment](https://archiveofourown.org/users/everyfragment/gifts).
  * Inspired by [one of those games you're gonna lose (but you wanna play it just in case)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29688801) by [everyfragment](https://archiveofourown.org/users/everyfragment/pseuds/everyfragment). 



> I love the idea of a Remus Lupin who was never admitted to Hogwarts and as a result, is not beholden at all to Albus Dumbledore. As well as a Remus Lupin who doesn’t hide his werewolf traits but utilizes and grows with them.

Dark creatures don’t get wands.

This is said many times to Remus over the course of his twenty-six years of life. Sometimes it’s matter-of-fact, the basis of a lesson. Other times, it’s been spat in his face, suspicious eyes already trying to figure out how to make a grab for the tool clutched in his hand. Most of the time though, it has been from other lycanthropes, with longing in their voices, as Remus sets his wand on the table in front of him.

What people really should say was that wands are regulated and tracked. Dark creatures or non-human magical creatures are not sold wands and if they’re found in possession of what Remus calls “a human wand,” it’s both theft and illegal possession.

Dark creatures aren’t sold wands.

But they can certainly make their own. 

When Remus was young and still petulant and upset about how the world wasn’t fair instead of being furious, he learned as much as his father could teach him about magic. 

Muggle school lessons were fine enough. He liked his friends, a charming group of village kids who thought his scars were neat instead of scary. But the late afternoons, after coming home and before dinner, was when his father showed him how to harness that core inside of him that sparked without provocation.

It wouldn’t do to buy Remus his own set of magical books. As far as the wizarding world knew, Remus Lupin died of his lycanthropy injuries when he was just a boy. But that suited Remus just fine. His fathers old spell books were worn but sturdy and had margins full of helpful tips about pronunciation and direction.

The textbooks also spoke of wands. Remus used his father’s but they both knew it wasn’t a good solution. But at the time, it was the only one they had.

Phoenix feather, unicorn hair, dragon heartstring.

“A bit of a magical creature to keep to the wood alive and channel the magic from your core to theirs to the outside world.”

Remus knew that the 'outside world' as his father put it, was already full of magic of its own. Human wizards were just better, or in some occasions worse, at utilizing their core so it could be bent to their will. Even then, wizards needed help. Wood, magical creatures, and someone to put the pieces together.

When he was fourteen, Remus woke up to a blessedly waning moon, exhausted and wishing the glass of water his mother had left on the nightstand would tip itself into his mouth. It could, perhaps, have done so if he had a wand.

“I’m a magical creature,” he said quietly to a room empty of people but full of evidence of how he spent his night. A few broken pieces of furniture. A bit of blood but by some grace, not a lot this month. 

More importantly though: tufts of grey fur. 

The wolf didn’t shed to gain a summer coat. This fur had come out shortly before the blood had done so, caught either on teeth or perhaps a nail from the floorboard. The 'how' didn’t matter to Remus though. 

The idea that was blossoming in his brain gave him the strength to sit up and fixate in the way that only teenagers with potentially dangerous ideas could. 

Remus had played with the bark of birch trees before. It was pliable enough, practically paper. Perhaps he didn't have to be a master carpenter or any kind of woodsmith at all.

Using the curvature already present in the bark's form, he rolled the paper over on itself, sealing in his fur with sap from the same birch tree. Then Remus pressed it all together so tightly, giving it some semblance of the right shape. He wondered if wishing hard with such an object in his hand would channel magic in the same way even before the sap set.

Werewolf hair. Birch wood. Five inches long. But a full inch inches in diameter. 

It looked more like a broken nightstick than it did a wand. 

But it _was_ a wand. Remus gripped it with both hands, not sure what to expect but it was solid and sturdy and the pieces were holding together.

Green sparks flew out of the end facing away from him with a force so strong that he fell backwards onto his bed. His parents came rushing in and the large, proud smile on his father's face was one Remus wouldn't soon forget.

But that had been over a decade ago. 

Same Remus, same sturdy wand, just twelve years later and in a different country. 

"Who are you?"

Same prejudices though, he was sure. If they'd ever get that far.

"Might ask you the same question." Remus straightened himself out and twisted slightly so his new teammate, a young ginger was more out of view of the unknown man than he was. The seventeen year old had come directly from Hogwarts graduation to help with the dragons instead of going through government channels so in Remus' eyes, that was a point in his favor. Still, it wouldn't do to let the kid get hurt his first night out on the job.

Remus had heard through his connections that there was an illegal dragon breeding farm in Wester Ross. Small operation, perfect first outing for a a wet-behind-the-ears wizard who had talent and passion but absolutely no practical experience.

In hindsight, he should have known there would be trouble.

The man standing near three meters away from them was around Remus' age, long black hair styled down to around his ears and in the kind of official Ministry of Magic clothing given out to Aurors when they want so badly to be inconspicuous but never quite managed to understand what the word meant.

"Ministry of Magic, Auror division. Name's Black. We received a tip that someone's been harvesting dragon heartstrings illegally."

There it was. Remus tilted his head at the man. Presumably he had just been sent to investigate and report back. One auror wasn't a raid but rather just reconnaissance. Still he kept up his guard, it wouldn't do for young Charlie to learn to relax the second a Ministry official identified themselves. That would be the opposite, in fact, of what Remus wanted him to learn. 

"What do you mean illegally?" Remus asked to clarify. Really, he thought he should thank the man. This was the kind of experience he wanted Charlie to get but handwrapped and delivered to the Highlands.

The man looked confused by the question and that uncertainty was, unfortunately, worn handsomely by him. "I mean, they're not authorized to harvest them. They don't have a permit." 

On second thought, Charlie was now categorized in Remus' head as a potential cockblock. Poor kid. He had no idea.

"Ah." Remus tipped his head back and looked to the sky, asking the Draco constellation to give him strength for this encounter. "So it's the permit that's the issue here. Not the fact that they're killing innocent dragons in general."

The auror was suddenly back on his guard and Remus mourned the loss of a potential illicit hookup. "You're revolutionaries?"

"Is that what they're calling it?" Remus asked, surprised. That was a new one. Nicer and a bit more dashing than what was usually shouted at him and the rest of their brigade.

Auror Black squinted at the seventeen year old besides Remus. "Aren't you a Weasley?"

"A who?" Charlie Weasley asked with the all the skilled confidence of a liar who had grown up in a house full of many children, most of whom had the predisposition for causing trouble.

Black turned his attention back to Remus but before he could say anything, there was a squeak of roar from over the next hill. Like a dragon was trying to shout but hadn't quite gotten the hang of it yet. He and Remus both ducked out of instinct but Charlie's eyes just shined wide and he began to sprint towards the sound.

"Kid, get back here!" Remus hissed but scrambled after him. Black could wait. Charlie and the dragons were his first priority. Remus imagined he was going to be saying that a lot over the next few years. 

"Trainees, am I right? Always racing off without thinking," Black huffed in a remarkably conversational tone as the two of them hopped over rocks and managed to avoid slipping on saturated moss. 

Remus tentatively moved Charlie out of the cockblock category and Black into what he sincerely hoped would be his bed sometime in the near future.

They caught up with Charlie within a few minutes, hiding behind a newly cracked boulder with his wand out. He hadn't been seen yet but the stony look on his face meant that he had seen enough. A quick glance over their hiding spot had Remus agreeing. Too many baby dragons in small magicked cages for his liking.

However, only two people keeping watch it seemed. They could do this. He and Charlie. It would be easy enough to stun the men, free the dragons. He could even call in backup and they could transport the dragons to-- Remus swore. He had forgotten about Black. 

"What is that?" Black was looking at Remus' wand. Out of habit, he had pulled it out once they had started to run. Now it was clutched firmly in his hand, with his thumb rubbing against the wooden birch cap that kept his fur in place.

"A wand."

Black looked skeptical. "Looks like it's been through the ringer, mate."

"Ah well, I'd say it's by design but..." Remus changed his mind. It was 1AM and he knew in the morning he'd have to tell Charlie that he wasn't allowed to keep a dragon. A conversation he was sure that the boy's mother had been having with him since he was a toddler. "You know, I guess that's not...entirely false."

"Merlin. What's in there?" Black squinted, trying to get a better look. Remus' fingers tightened around the layers of birch bark.

"Werewolf fur." Remus did not want to have this conversation. He did not lie about his wand. Most wizards assumed he was lying or had gotten a wand abroad. This auror though, he was surprised. Not suspicious or scared, just-- _interested_. Excited, even. Remus wasn't sure what to do with that.

"What?"

"Magical creatures, aren't they?" Remus asked in a concentrated whisper as though they weren't about to break apart this dragon raid.

"I guess. Never been near one to be sure."

"Ah, of course." Remus purposely smiled his most wolfish grin. Whatever the intended effect, Black came closer anyway. 

_Fuck_. Remus didn't have time to think about this.

"I'll make you a deal," he said to Black. Charlie finally tore his gaze away from the dragons now that he felt Remus was about to give orders. "You help us take care of those two lookouts and transport the dragons to a safe location. Then you go back to London tell the Ministry it was a false tip and there was nothing here."

Black's eyebrows raised and he crossed his arms over his chest. He looked between Remus and Charlie before settling in on Remus. "What am I getting out of this?" He asked expectantly.

Remus smirked at him, feeling confident in how his night was going to end up. "I'll tell you about my wand."


End file.
